U.S. Lawmaker Balks at NASA Chief's China Visit

by Amy Klamper, Space News Staff Writer | October 09, 2010 08:57am ET

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks during a press conference, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, at the National Press Club in Washington, where the it was announced that NASA has awarded $50 million through funded agreements to further the commercial sector's capability to support transport of crew to and from low Earth orbit.Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

WASHINGTON ?
NASA chief Charles Bolden's plan to visit China this month for
high-level talks
about possible cooperation on human spaceflight has prompted a senior
Republican appropriator to request a security briefing on the trip
before it
happens.

In an Oct. 5
letter to the NASA chief, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said he strongly opposes any
partnership with Beijing that involves
human spaceflight,
including efforts to involve China in the international space station.

"I need
not remind you that no such planning or coordination has been approved
by the
Congress," wrote Wolf, the ranking member on the House Appropriations
commerce, justice, science subcommittee that oversees NASA spending.
"In
fact, several recent NASA authorization bills have explicitly sought to
place
strict limitations on coordination
with China."

Wolf, an
outspoken China critic, is likely to return to the chairmanship of the
NASA
appropriations subcommittee next year if Democrats lose control of the
House in
upcoming November elections.

In his letter
to Bolden, Wolf cited a Sept. 27 Aviation Week and Space Technology
report that
revealed details of the trip, currently planned for Oct. 16-21, and an
Oct. 1
NASA white paper the lawmaker said downplays the trip's significance.

"It
should go without saying that NASA has no business cooperating with the
Chinese
regime on human spaceflight," Wolf wrote. "China is taking an
increasingly aggressive posture globally, and their interests rarely
intersect
with ours. The U.S. intelligence community notes that China's attempts
to spy
on U.S. agencies are the most aggressive of all foreign intelligence
organizations. China's aerospace industry for decades has provided
missile
technologies and equipment to rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea."

According to
the Oct. 1 white paper, Bolden's visit will involve "initial
discussions
with the China Manned Space Engineering Office" and site visits to
human
spaceflight facilities.

"This
will be introductory and will not include consideration of specific
proposals
for human space flight cooperation," the white paper states, adding
that
Chinese government officials are expected to pay a visit to NASA
facilities in
November.

The United
States and China agreed to the reciprocal visits last November during
President
Barack Obama's visit to Beijing.

Bolden would
not be the first NASA administrator to visit China. His predecessor,
Mike
Griffin, led a NASA delegation there in 2006 to meet with Chinese space
officials.

The NASA
white paper says potential
engagement with China in the area of human spaceflight would
be conditioned
on the transparency of the communist country's space activities. The
white
paper also says bilateral cooperation is consistent with new guidance
contained
in the U.S. national space policy issued by the White House in June.

The policy
called for NASA to "expand international cooperation on mutually
beneficial space activities to: broaden and extend the benefits of
space;
further the peaceful use of space; and enhance collection and
partnership in
sharing of space-derived information."

In his
letter, Wolf reminded Bolden of written testimony provided to the
subcommittee
earlier this year in which the NASA administrator assured lawmakers the
agency
had not had "any human spaceflight-related discussions" with China.

Wolf called
for a briefing to the Congress on the nature of the planned discussions
with
Chinese officials and asked that Bolden respond in writing to clarify
the scope
of the "introductory" discussions scheduled to take place.

"Specifically,
please provide a summary of information about the U.S. human
spaceflight
program that will be provided to the Chinese
government, including
non-public technical,
operational or strategic information," Wolf wrote. "I would
appreciate a detailed list of the NASA facilities that Chinese
officials will
be invited to visit, including a summary of the security precautions
that will
be put in place to protect sensitive spaceflight information."